Research areas and results

The research concept for our national park states four research areas.

1. The inventory of the animals, plants and fungi living in the conservation area, plus their habitats and abiotic factors is a central task of the national park authority. Thanks to numerous cartographical surveys, we have obtained a good level of knowledge of, for example, the biotope types in the national park as well as of various species groups such as vascular plants, moss, lichen and fungi, but also of birds, beetles and flies.

2. Monitoringandcontinuous observation projects are intended to document the development of ecosystems that can be found here. These include the forest inventories carried out periodically by the national park authority in the protected area. Also, the periodic monitoring of selected groups of organisms (e. g. moss and lichen) can give impressive evidence of changes.

3. Special research on the natural dynamics of (forest) ecosystems is carried out primarily by universities, colleges and research institutions. Long-term investigations are often required here – such as the carbon assessment project for the Weberstedter Holz in the national park. New findings in particular can be derived from the synthesis of results of the various research projects.

4. Social science and socio-economic research serves to understand the importance of the protected area for humans and vice versa. The influence of the national park on regional development and in particular on tourism will also be investigated.

The results of the research projects are published by the scientists in specialist publications. In addition, the national park authority issues the publication series ERFORSCHEN. Important results from the above-mentioned research areas are summarised here for anyone interested. Further information on this topic can be found in the publications section under specialist literature.